Beijing: Grappling with economic slowdown and dwindling business sentiment, China on Tuesday fixed a modest growth target of around five per cent this year with a pledge to create 12 million jobs amid growing concerns over rising unemployment.

The country expects to create over 12 million jobs in urban areas and keep the surveyed urban unemployment rate at around 5.5 per cent this year, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in his maiden work report presented to the opening session of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC).

The week-long NPC annual session at the Great Hall of People was attended among others by Chinese President Xi Jinping besides over two thousand delegates from across the country to deliberate and legislate on key initiatives needed to strengthen the growth of the second-largest economy, which continued with post COVID-19 slowdown.

Press Trust of India